When our President was elected, gun companies found themselves in an unenviable position. They couldn't keep guns on the shelves. People were buying anything that looked like a firearm, along with ammunition and accessories. Those of us who watch that market segment were the first to notice. Lots of folks who had never bought a gun were stocking up. Ammo flew off the shelves.
Now comes Josh Sugarman from the Violence Policy Center, who opines at Huffington Post that the AR boom is over. He makes that claim on some interviews from the executives at KBI/Charles Daly, who recently went out of business. Well, that his opinion and he's welcome to it. The simple fact that he's wrong has no impact on his reasoning. Any rational examination of the AR market shows that it's still strong.
KBI/Charles Daly was a company who tried to position itself in the AR market with a rifle that wasn't differentiated from others of the herd. From all I've read, the company failed to find its niche and was offering a plain vanilla rifle in a market filled with plain vanilla rifles from other brands.
There are two types of AR buyers. Those who simply want a plain vanilla rifle that looks and acts like the military rifle. And those who like the AR platform and have a specific use for the rifle. The first group will buy a rifle and put it in the closet. The second group will have multiple rifles for very different applications.
I'm no fan of semiautomatic rifles, although I own several. My opinion is simply a matter of taste as I prefer bolt rifles and pump shotguns. I own an AR, a plain vanilla Bushmaster that I use as a patrol rifle. I see the appeal that such a rifle carries with a large part of the shooting public, but after having carried one for 30 years doing military and police work, I tend to look on AR rifles as simply tools.
Still, the market is huge, and while Charles Daly failed, lots of manufacturers are doing quite well in the segment that makes/sells AR rifles. There is a huge market for accessories. One wag in one of the forums I frequent, said that AR rifles are like Barbie Dolls for grown men. You can change them, accessorize them, dress them up however you want them. He's right.
I'm wondering how practical it might be to have an AR in .243 Wunchester? Heavy barrel, flat-top receiver, to use as a Practical Rifle?
4 comments:
The media and the Left does not understand that guns are not persihable. Neither is ammo. If the guns were bought and went into a closet, along with a few magazines and a few hundred rounds of ammo, then in ten years they'll still be out there for whatever purpose for which they might be needed.
A lot of those AR's were bought by peopl who weren't thinking of "sporting purposes".
I had a Winchester Mod. 100autoshucker in .243 for a while. Good round for itty bitty East Texas deer, but I think if I was spending the $$$ for a Eeeevil Black Rifle, I'd go ahead and have it chambered for .308 instead of .243 Win.
.243 (6mmx308)? Wonderful.
.260 Remington AI (6.5x308)? Even better. :-)
Dennis, with the variety that Charles Daly offered, do you believe that there AR-style offerings are really an issue?
I would suspect other business factors.. but I have no real knowledge on the subject.
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